Valparaiso, Ind. – Jama Sharp scored 17 points, including the 1000th point of her career, as Stetson defeated Valparaiso 73-62 Saturday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
Stetson (11-3) won its fourth game in a row and completed non-conference play with 11 victories for the first time in school history.
Sharp, who had been looking forward to reaching the 1000-point milestone for a couple of games, finally had her wait end just 32 seconds into Saturday's contest as she drained a 3-pointer from the left side.
“It felt good,” Sharp said. “I have been trying for three games. I would have liked to have had it last game, but now I am past it and can move on and get into conference play.”
Sharp, a native of Mooresville, Ind., was able to reach the milestone in front of several family members in attendance. She is the 21st player in school history to score 1000 points.
“I am glad it is over, but I am very happy to see her get it,” Stetson head coach Lynn Bria said. “It is a great accomplishment. It is hard to do, especially when you play with other great players. It is not like she is taking a lot of shots every game. I am really proud of her, and it is very well deserved. I am glad she got to get it here in front of her family.”
After going 1-for-8 in her last game against UNCW, Sharp was 7-for-13 Saturday with three 3-pointers, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists.
“(Jama played) an all-around great game,” Bria said. “I thought she played very well on both ends of the floor.”
Stetson led wire-to-wire, but saw an early 12-point lead dwindle down to just three points at halftime. Valparaiso (4-9) still trailed by just four points with 14:11 to play, but a 17-2 Stetson run put the game out of reach.
“I thought we were very fortunate to get a win,” Bria said. “I didn't think it was pretty, but we haven't played pretty all year. I thought we started the game really well. I was a little disappointed in our first half defensive effort and execution. I felt like we had good effort, we just weren't very smart. In the second half, we did a better job of getting their field goal percentage down. We turned them over a little bit and got some easy baskets.
The Hatters defense was strong in the second half, limiting the Crusaders to just 15 points in the first 15 minutes of the period. Stetson also collected 14 steals as Valparaiso committed 24 turnovers in game.
“We got a ton of deflections, which is a measure of effort,” Bria said. “I was very happy with our second half as far as our defense.”
Offensively, the Hatters saw four players reach double figures in scoring. In addition to Sharp, Myeisha Hall tallied 17 points, Amber Porter notched 14 points, and C.J. Coddington added 10 points.
Coddington also led the team with nine rebounds as Stetson owned a 42-38 advantage on the boards.
DeAsia Beal played 30 solid minutes off the bench and scored five points, including a critical field goal that started Stetson's 17-2 run. Sarah Sagerer added six rebounds, one block and one steal in 22 minutes of action.
“DeAsia had a great game for us and had a couple of key baskets that really helped us,” Bria said. “Sarah had an outstanding game, especially rebounding in the second half.”
The Hatters will begin Atlantic Sun Conference on the road play next Saturday as Stetson visits Florida Gulf Coast at 4:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
Notes: Stetson improved to 10-0 when leading at halftime and 9-0 when scoring 65 points or more ... The Hatters owned a 12-0 advantage in fastbreak points ... Jama Sharp moved into fifth place in school history in career steals (234) and seventh in career assists (377) ... The Hatters have held 12 of their 14 opponents to under 65 points.
